The Working Mom Who Just Became America’s Best Runner
A decade ago, Keira D’Amato gave up running entirely. Now, she’s dominating the sport.
Often, when we discuss the Religion of Sports, we get caught up talking about only the richest, most famous athletes in the world. Case in point: we just spent the last two months decoding Tom Brady’s secrets. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but every now and then, it’s important to remind ourselves that sports get so much of its power not from those few elite performers but from its universality. Anybody can push themselves to be their best self. Anybody can compete. Anybody can feel the joy of sport. Sports is a universal religion.
And I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of anybody—rich, famous, or otherwise—who embodies the power of sports as beautifully as Keira D’Amato.
Last weekend, D’Amato ran the Houston Marathon and set the American record in the process, finishing the race in 2:19:12. But D’Amato isn’t a professional. She’s a real estate agent and 37-year-old mother of two, and it wasn’t too long ago that she was convinced she would never run again.
D’Amato never even really wanted to start running. As a freshman entering high school in Virginia, she had dreams of being a soccer star. Soccer season wasn’t until the spring, and she wanted to find every way to impress the coach before tryouts. So in the fall, she joined the cross country team. The only problem: she never made it to soccer tryouts. She was hooked on running.
D’Amato ran through high school, and in college she was a four-time All American. She joined a running club after graduation, but hurt her ankle. She needed surgery, and she was busy building her life. D’Amato gave up the sport, got married, and had two kids. Running was just something she had enjoyed in a past life.
Nearly a decade later, D’Amato started jogging again for the same reason that most of us run: she needed to lose weight. She figured it would be easier to jog every day if there was a goal she was aiming for, and that’s how she signed up for a marathon. In November 2017, she finished her local Richmond, VA, race in 2:47:00, missing the Olympic qualifying time by only two minutes. Her old college coach noticed the blazing fast time and asked if she wanted to start training again. She worked out a plan to keep things light and fun: for every ten miles she ran, she could drink one root beer float. Soon, the mile counts (and root beers) soared. She was making a name for herself in the sport.
Which brings us to last weekend in Houston, where D’Amato’s daughter held a sign that said “Go Mommy Go Mommy Go Mommy Go Mommy!” D’Amato beat the previous American record by nearly half a minute. “I just can’t believe it,” she said at the finish line.
The next morning, D’Amato was on the Today Show, where they asked about her motivation. "I believed that there was something more. I believed I hadn’t found my potential,” she explained. “I was just so curious to find what the limit was, and it’s just so exciting to me that I still feel like I haven’t found my limit. There’s still a lot of room to grow. I’m just like, what’s next?”
At 37 years-old, Keira D’Amato is just getting started.
– Joe Levin
Now Streaming: Man in the Arena Podcast
In addition to the docuseries, we’re also producing a Man in the Arena podcast, in which Gotham Chopra explores two decades of Brady’s career through the eyes of the fans and haters, those inside and outside of the arena. Each episode grapples with the ways in which Brady has altered our understanding of sports. In the final episode, Gotham explores the end of a sports career. Brady’s not done yet, but when he does talk about life after football, he refers to it as “the void.” How do athletes find meaning after the final whistle? How do they move on?
So Let It Be Written...
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At kickoff of last weekend’s Wild Card matchup between the Bills and Patriots, temperatures hovered around 7°F, and they only dropped from there. Nobody doubted that Bills Mafia would still be cheering and smashing tables in full force no matter what the weather was like. But what was curious about last weekend’s game was one of the men who braved the cold to cheer on his team: none other than journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who led the Bills from 2009 to 2012.
Yes, the same Ryan Fitzpatrick who is currently under contract with the Washington Football Team.
He was sitting in the cold, shirtless, screaming like a diehard fan.
An absolute legend.
Cooper Neill / NFL
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To any Cowboys fans reading this: I’m sorry.
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Lusia “Lucy” Harris earned her nickname, “The Queen of Basketball.” She won three national championships at Delta State, scored the first points in Olympic women’s basketball history, was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in 1977, and became the first Black woman to ever be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. Harris passed away this week at 66. Last year, she sat down with The New York Times for this short documentary about her legendary life.
Last Word
"Part of me just can't believe this is happening and the other part is like, 'this is happening because you worked your tail off. Dreams come true, you know?”
– Keira D'Amato